When the Cowboys are good, they are unstoppable. When they’re bad, they are absolutely terrible.
It has been said that the Dallas Cowboys have one of the most talented rosters in the NFL yet struggle every year on even making the Wildcard Round.
What does it take for them to take off their regular-season championship crowns, and excel into the playoffs?
1) Consistent Defense
The fact that Jeff Driskell was allowed to rack up 25+ points on the defense tells you a lot about it. Our defense has been hot and cold for the past two seasons. We saw absolute greatness Week 13 in the 2018-2019 season when our defense shutout a touchdown-happy Saints team in halftime and, eventually, went on to win the game on a defensive stop. 10 points for a team that racked up 30-40 points a game was amazing.
Its performances like that that make me wonder how in the world did we let Mitchell Trubisky throw all over us in Week 14 of last season, making him look like a quarterback God. Our defense can be very dominant when they want to be.
Keyword “want”.
Once that consistency comes, we are capable of being a top 5 defense.
2) Bold Coaching
Not going for it on 4thdown against the Texans (we were in Texans’ territory by the way) during Week 5 of the 2018-2019 season. Running it on 1stdown after multiple failures to convert while Dak was throwing for nearly 400 yards and no interceptions during the Vikings game. Those type of mistakes is what made the criticism of our coaching valid. However, this could change with the addition of new head coach, Mike McCarthy.
It would be a refreshing start to see more aggressive coaching and innovative play calling. In the last season game against the New Orleans Saints, 11 first-down runs were called. Only two were successful. The minds of McCarthy and Moore will hopefully bring a stop to our offensive dulls.
3) Special Teams. Special Teams. Special Teams.
Previous special teams coordinator Keith O’Quinn was held responsible for many of the issues in the Cowboys’ kicking game last year. O’Quinn was not the only problem, as the front office held onto Brett Maher for way, way too long, other factors such as our punt return unit was held in his hands.
The game in New England, although slightly understood due to the rain, which is a condition Dallas hardly plays in, was a massive spotlight on the inefficiency that our special teams had.
It was O’Quinn’s (and Jason Garrett’s) decision to not prepare the special teams unit on what the weather would be like in Gillette stadium. However, with the switch to John Fassel, our improvement on special teams should reflect a lot differently.
With the vastly different changes made this offseason, do the Dallas Cowboys have a chance to perform in the Super Bowl?
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